The Lion of Judah is the ancient symbol of the Israelite Tribe of Judah originally taken from the book of Genesis. Ethiopian King Haile Selassie, the Rastafarian prophet, is a direct descendent of this Tribe of Judah, hence the Rastafari adoption of the ancient symbol of the lion. Yet, notice the Lion of Judah above who has mysteriously transformed into a Lion that looks like a Snoop Lion. That’s right, Snoop Dogg is no longer a Snoop Dogg, he’s a Snoop Lion. Reggae is the latest destination for noted genre-hopper and global THC ambassador Calvin Cordozar Broadus. Teaming up with McDonald’s, parenthetically speaking, the producer known as Diplo in his Major Lazer incarnation, the pair are mixing and recording in Jamaica alongside producer Ariel Rechtshaid for a reggae project tentatively titled Reincarnated. Check out their newly leaked track “La La La” below. The samples are deep Jamaica and Snoop Dogg’s delivery is whole-heartedly praising Jah. There is a great overlay of a woman’s electronic vocal track echoing Snoop Lion’s timbre and shooting around like lazers in between — someone always does such a good job with that — but, maybe it’s just me, the beat is strangely reminiscent of Madonna’s most recent Best New Track “Hung Up”, which unfortunately hasn’t been since 2005. Which isn’t that bad actually, when you consider Snoop hasn’t done much worth listening to since Doggystyle nearly two decades ago (“Drop It Like It’s Hot” being the lone skeletal exception). Time goes by so slowly, don’t it? At least now we have Snoop Lion. You can suck on this marijuana lollipop Pop “La La La” and hopefully it will keep you high until the full length album drops tentatively later this year. Watch Snoop Lion and his crew praising Jah with Vice Films here, and catch a live show on August 3 at Toronto’s Caribana 2012.